


The Heart of the Jaguar

by AmberlyNightengale



Series: The Kylina Chronicles [3]
Category: LoliRock (Cartoon), Miraculous Ladybug, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Forgotten Miraculous, Frog Miraculous, Jaguar Miraculous, Original Ephedian Kingdom(s), panda miraculous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 10,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24540988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberlyNightengale/pseuds/AmberlyNightengale
Summary: For two years, Kylina has fought Hawk Moth in Paris. Now that Hawk Moth has been discovered and defeated, Ashley is just hoping for a normal year with her friends. Of course, nothing comes easy for a superhero/princess, especially when there are still enemies from the past lurking in the shadows...
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Mephisto/Talia (LoliRock), Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: The Kylina Chronicles [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1541131
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	1. Ashley

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, my Sugarcubes! I am so excited to finally be back with the next part of The Kylina Chronicles! This is one of my favorites, since we get so much more of Ashley and Caleb! Please enjoy this book!

I bounced impatiently in my seat. I’d asked Adrien to meet me at the airport, but that _still_ didn’t seem soon enough. Time was of the essence here!

I was admittedly more anxious than I’d ever been to arrive in Paris. I hadn’t even been this restless the first time I’d come.

But I had good reason to be stressed.

Over the summer, Ladybug and Cat Noir had found Hawk Moth.

* * *

“Adrien!” I cried happily as I exited the gate and saw him. I threw my arms around him, relieved of the fears I’d had about what might have happened to him after…

“Hey, Ashley.” He returned the hug, but there was a weary kind of sorrow to his greeting.

“How’re you feeling?” I asked him, pulling away to examine his face. I spotted the bags under his eyes almost immediately.

He shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”

“I should’ve been here!” I said in dismay. I’d been mentally berating myself for two months, and now all the things I’d been previously scolding myself with came spilling out. “I should’ve helped you guys!”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” said Adrien firmly. “Just imagine what could’ve happened if something went wrong.”

“But it was your _dad_!” I said. “Forget being here, I should’ve figured it out sooner--”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Adrien. “What’s important is that you’re here now, and we can all probably just go back to having regular lives like everybody else again.”

“Did you give _yours_ back?” I asked, gaping at him in shock.

Adrien laughed. “No, of course not.” He lowered his voice. “Paris might still need Ladybug and Cat Noir. But we won’t be fighting Hawk Moth anymore.” I noticed his expression twist in pain briefly as he said the villain’s name.

I pretended not to notice. I tried to smile, but something else was eating away at me. “That’s not the only thing I should’ve been here for.”

“What happened?”

“ _She_ happened, that’s what,” I said. “She came on so suddenly, and I tried to get ready for Her, but my brothers were in the next room with a Ouija board, and I guess She interpreted their questions as to _Her_ , so--”

“You have no idea what She said?” Adrien asked, frowning.

I nodded glumly. “I should’ve been here,” I said again. “You would’ve been right there. I didn’t even have time to call Peter to ask Her.”

Adrien put his arm around my shoulders comfortingly. “Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s probably no big deal.”

“ _No big deal?_ ” I stared at him dubiously. “This is the _Oracle_ we’re talking about.”

“What I mean is, She was probably just recognizing that Hawk Moth is no longer a threat to Paris,” said Adrien, innocently avoiding saying the words “my father,” as if I wouldn’t notice. “That’s the biggest thing that’s happened recently, and, well, what else do you think She would want to tell you?”

I _wanted_ to believe him, but I still had my doubts. “The Oracle normally comes with a warning,” I said. “It’s rare that She brings me good news.”

Adrien patted my shoulder, but he looked uncomfortable about the things I had said. “Let’s talk about something else,” he said, clearly wanting a break from any dismal subjects. “Not everything that’s happened recently has been bad. My father’s started dating Nathalie!”

I gave him an incredulous look. “Really? That’s great!”

“Yeah. I think getting rid of the Butterfly Miraculous really helped him to get over my mom,” he said. “It’s… kind of weird, though.”

“No kidding,” I said. “Imagine if your dad _married_ her!”

“Oh, boy.” Adrien shuddered. “That’s big. I don’t want to think about that.”

“She’d be your stepmom!” I exclaimed gleefully. “She’d probably make you start doing your own chores and everything! I could call you Cinder-Adrien!”

“Don’t you even start,” Adrien warned, his grip on my shoulder tightening dangerously.

“Oh, please,” I said, shrugging him off. “It’s not like it’d change _that_ much.”

“What are you talking about?” Adrien demanded, a mystified smile on his face.

I rolled my eyes. “Wow, you are _so_ clueless,” I said. “I’ll have to explain it to you later. Now, let’s get going! I can’t wait to see everybody else!”

* * *

I was one of the “regular” foreign-exchange kids, meaning I came back to the same place every year. Not many people did this, but this was the third year in a row that I’d managed it.

“All right, class,” said Miss Bustier, clapping her hands to get the attention of the other students. “Before we get started on our day, let’s welcome Ashley and Caleb back to Paris for another school year!”

The class cheered for us, and I sneaked a grin at Caleb. He smiled back somewhat weakly, which struck me as odd.

As we headed to our regular seats in the back, I subtly dropped a folded-up piece of paper on Marinette’s desk. She read my note quickly, and I nodded at her discreetly before turning to Caleb.

He didn’t really look all that well, now that I really looked. There were dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in a couple of days. His complexion was sort of pale, and his shoulders sagged.

“Hey,” I whispered to him, nudging him slightly. “You okay?”

He blinked and turned, looking almost surprised to see me staring at him, like he’d forgotten I was there. Then he smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just…” He yawned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ve been feeling kinda sick for the past few days.”

“Sick?” My eyes narrowed in concern. “Sick like how?”

“Headaches,” Caleb replied. “And I haven’t been sleeping too well. Haven’t barfed yet, though, so yippee to that.”

I couldn’t help laughing a little. “That’s too bad. Hope you feel better soon.”

“So do I,” said Caleb. “I’d hate to spend my first few days back with my head in the toilet.”

I snickered. But then the door opened, and my smile melted into a hard scowl as my least-favorite person in the world entered.

“Hi, everyone!” said Lila cheerfully with a little princess wave. “Sorry I’m late, I got caught up helping an elderly woman cross the street.” She looked out to the back. Her eye twitched the tiniest bit when she saw me, which caused the smallest smirk to appear on my face, though it disappeared shortly. “And Ashley and Caleb are back too. That’s… great! I’m so happy to see you guys again.” But her smile became more of a grimace as she sat down behind us.

“ _Great,_ ” I moaned under my breath. “I was hoping she’d’ve moved back to Italy by now.”

“Maybe it’s not so bad,” Caleb began.

“ _Please_ don’t tell me she’s got you fooled, too,” I groaned. “You of all people should know it’s all just an act!”

“Oh, I _do_ know that,” he assured me. “I was just thinking we won’t need an excuse not to look at her this year.”

“I guess it could be worse,” I admitted. “She could be sitting in _front_ of us.”

Caleb joined me in quiet laughter. I smiled to myself as we turned back to Miss Bustier. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad this year.


	2. Ashley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley gets settled with the Agrestes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, there, Sugarcubes! I'm really excited to share the next chapter of The Jaguar with you! Please enjoy!

I inhaled deeply through my nose outside the mansion. Yep, smelled like the Agrestes.

But just about everything else had changed. The green of the lawn and rainbow of wide flower petals outside the pristine white of the house seemed more vibrant, the golden sunlight seemed to shine brighter, even the very air seemed to pulse with warm energy. The entire feel of the house was more… welcoming.

“Seems the lack of evil butterflies has really brightened up the place,” I said to Adrien, unable to suppress a grin at the newly kind, friendly aura of his home.

“That’s part of it,” Adrien said. He seemed genuinely happier to be returning to the house than he ever had in the years before.

“We formally buried my mother a few days ago,” Adrien said as we began climbing the stairs to the front door.

“How was it?” I asked gently. I was sure it must have been extremely difficult for him; I knew what it felt like to bury someone you loved.

“Pretty nice, actually,” Adrien said. “I think it helped Father a lot to realize there really is no way she can come back.” He didn’t add how it made _him_ realize she could never come back, but I didn’t need him to say it.

“She’ll never really be gone, though,” I said, resting a gentle hand on his arm. “She’s still living on, in a way. In here.” I moved my hand to press my palm against his chest, right over the spot where I could feel his heart beating rhythmically. I knew he must feel like that part of him was broken, but I knew from painful experience that he just needed someone to help him heal.

Adrien smiled softly. “Thanks, Ashley.” He turned back toward the house. “On the bright side,” he said, “my relationship with my father has improved.”

“No way,” I said incredulously. “Does he actually _talk_ to you?”

“Believe it or not, yes,” Adrien said with a slight smile. “And we’ve been spending a lot more time doing stuff together, especially since the funeral.”

I grinned. “Nathalie’s an _angel_.”

Adrien pushed open the door, and we dragged my stuff inside.

“Welcome back, Ashley,” said Nathalie from the top of the stairs. She still held her clipboard and regal, straight posture, but she wore a kind smile instead of a blank, unreadable mask. “We’ve prepped your room for you. It’s all ready for you to, er, settle back in.”

“Thanks, Nat,” I said with a bashful smile, knowing that “settle back in” referred to my usual clutter that would undeniably cause even more work for my host. “I appreciate it.”

Then, to my surprise, something happened that never had before. Gabriel Agreste himself came to greet me as I arrived, joining Nathalie at the top of the stairs. “I thought I heard you two,” he said to me and Adrien. Something about his face had changed, something that made him look like an entirely different person, and it took me a minute to realize he was smiling. “As always, it’s a pleasure to have you here, Ashley.” It sounded like he actually meant it this time.

“Um, thanks, M. Agreste,” I said, a bit put off by how much friendlier Adrien’s father was acting toward me. “Hey, I heard about what happened over the summer…”

Gabriel’s smile dissolved, and he looked crestfallen. “You don’t want to stay here this year? Ah-- of course, I shouldn’t be surprised, only Nathalie’s status as Adrien’s legal guardian made it possible for you to return here in the first place, but I understand completely if that is not what you want.”

“What?” I said, shocked that he would think I was too afraid of him to want to stay in his home as I always had. “No, that’s not what I meant at all! I just wanted to congratulate you on keeping your brand up and running. And say that it’s great you and Nathalie are a thing now.” I winced at having called Gabriel’s relationship with his assistant a “thing.”

Gabriel didn’t seem to mind. “Ah,” he said, looking relieved. “Well, in that case, thank you, Ashley. Your kindness is much appreciated.” He kissed Nathalie on the forehead ( _awwwww!_ ) and ran his hand over her shoulders. “I have to go. Clara Nightingale’s asked to meet me about new costumes for her next concert.”

Gabriel paused to tousle Adrien’s hair affectionately before retreating into his office, and I noticed Nathalie’s cheeks redden the tiniest bit. _Eee_ , they were so _cute_ together! Now if only Agreste Jr. would act the same way around a certain other black-haired girl…

I readjusted the position of a strap on my shoulder and nodded at the stairs. “Well, you heard the woman,” I said to Adrien. “Let’s head on up.”

The house really had transformed. It appeared that Gabriel had hired more staff, I noticed as I passed a pair of women in black uniforms carrying piles of the brand’s latest designs, so the oversized rooms didn’t seem so lonesome. The once dull, monochromatic walls were now accented with splashes of color in the form of tasteful paintings that were vibrant but not too gaudy.

Perhaps the most dramatic change, however, was the painting above the stairs. Last spring, it had been an enormous portrait of Adrien with his father, both wearing black clothes against a sad grey background. It had been painted shortly after Adrien’s mother died, and both of the picture’s subjects were clearly miserable, their painted eyes somehow as glistening with despair as in real life.

Now, however, a new, cheerier portrait hung in the center of the stairway. It was Adrien, with his father and Nathalie, but they all looked different than I’d ever seen them together. All of them were dressed in matching white and red and blue and green, sitting together comfortably, every one of their faces glowing with more joy than I had ever seen from any of them in my three years of knowing them. Even Adrien, whom I had seen at his happiest when he was around Ladybug, had an expression filled with five times the glee from when he thought he had made an especially clever pun, the artist somehow managing to capture the glimmer of pure, untainted delight that sparkled in his green eyes as he laughed.

“So Nathalie’s officially a part of the family now?” I said, nodding at the painting.

Adrien smiled vaguely, as though remembering posing for the portrait and enjoying the memory. “I think she always was, in some way.”

My room seemed to be the one part of the house that hadn’t changed drastically. Emilie had decorated it years before, so Gabriel had maintained its bright, cheerful theme for years in tribute to her, up until the day I arrived and claimed the room as my own. I’d always felt that, though I called it “my” room, Emilie lived on as its true owner through the loving efforts she had taken for its design. The only difference seemed to be that the mahogany bed frame and wardrobe had been replaced with a lighter wood that contrasted tastefully with the dark floorboards.

“Home, sweet home,” I said, tossing one of my duffel bags onto the mattress. This was my ritual, something I’d done since year one to claim this room as my own.

As I started unpacking, setting Adrien with the task of carefully arranging my sheet music in its proper place on the desk, I checked to make sure no one was close enough to hear us. “Can we talk about it?” I finally asked.

“Talk about what?” said Adrien, suddenly seeming a lot more interested in my _Clair De Lune_ arrangement than before.

“Come on, Adrien, it’ll only make it worse to try and bottle it up.”

Adrien huffed. “What am I supposed to say, Ashley? I found out my father was a supervillain! I-- I had to _fight_ him.”

“Well, how about reassuring me that _he_ didn’t find out about _you_?” I offered.

Adrien looked at me quizzically. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, obviously, that revelation would have raised some… emotions,” I said carefully, knowing that I could accidentally let something slip. I’d gotten the news about Hawk Moth’s defeat from Bunnyx, who had finally told me the whole truth about that Cat Blanc incident she’d told me how to avoid. But I knew telling Adrien about that alternate timeline would beg some questions about how Hawk Moth had found out, and then it would be left to my silencing curse to ensure that I didn’t reveal any identities, and I wasn’t quite confident enough with my magic skills to rely on that. “Anger. Sadness. Betrayal. You could have exposed yourself!”

Adrien nodded, then ducked his head, looking ashamed. “I… I was angry,” he admitted. “And I almost let it slip that I was… but Ladybug intervened at exactly the right moment, and I didn’t. He still has no idea.”

“Good,” I said. “And he gave the brooch back?”

Adrien rolled his eyes as I repeated this question for what must have been the fiftieth time. “It’s safe and sound, Ashley. Just like I keep telling you.”

I wanted to believe him, to let it drop, but I had a sick feeling in my stomach. “I want to be totally sure.”

“What do you mean?” Adrien asked. “I’ve told you a million times, it’s fine. And besides, how do you plan to ‘be sure’? You can’t just walk up to my father and casually ask, ‘Hey, you _sure_ you returned the Butterfly Miraculous? Absolutely positively?’”

“ _I_ can’t,” I agreed. “But Kylina can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a few things to touch on here. I explained the situation with how Ashley is able to live with Gabriel in the end of work notes, so look there if there is any confusion. I know that this situation is totally unrealistic with the justice system, but this is fiction, so I can bend the rules however I want.  
> First off, I just wanted to confirm, yes, Ashley is a pianist, too. Clair De Lune is one of them that she practices with a lot, but she prefers to either learn arrangements that she can sing to or compose her own music. Sometimes she and Adrien do duets together when Adrien's not just pretending to practice his piano, and occasionally the kwamis will join in. It's really cute and I wish I could write one of those scenes, but it wouldn't make sense in the story and wouldn't be that great without music either.  
> The other thing I wanted to talk about was Ashley's involvement in the Cat Blanc episode. In that timeline, Ashley witnessed everything up until Ladybug and Cat Noir found Hawk Moth. She had to leave Paris just before that part because Peter, her New York friend, needed help in space. (Still not confirming who Peter is, I want to finish writing his installment in this series first, but it should be pretty obvious by this point.) She returned when she saw that someone broke the moon and arrived just as Ladybug went into the Burrow to use her Lucky Charm. When she learned about what had happened, she gave Bunnyx a crystal ball containing her memories from the time Adrien and Marinette got together onward and asked Bunnyx to give the memories to her in the present. After Ladybug fixed everything, present Ashley viewed her memories from the other timeline, and Bunnyx told her about Cat Noir's akumatization. After that, Ashley was kind of depressed because Adrien and Marinette couldn't get together and she had to stop setting them up. Furthermore, she had to make sure things stayed just as frustrating as they were. Bunnyx didn't tell Ashley about the whole Hawk-Moth-is-Cat-Noir's-father trauma until Ladybug and Cat Noir caught him the summer before this book.  
> Finally, the silencing curse. After Ashley learned about the importance of keeping Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities secret from each other, she began to lose trust in her ability to keep quiet to her superhero friends. To ensure that she wouldn't let anything slip, she cursed herself to never be able to directly reveal another Miraculous user's identity to another human being. It's basically the same kind of spell that the kwamis have, where they can't say their owner's name to other kwamis or users of the Miraculous. However, Ashley knows that she may lose the need for the curse and it may become a nuisance or even a serious issue if she ever needs to use it, so Iris, Talia, Auriana, and Mephisto are all capable of lifting the spell from Ashley, but she can't remove it from herself.  
> Thank you so much for reading! Have fun and stay safe!


	3. Kylina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylina searches for answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Sugarcubes! Sorry I haven't updated this in a while; I realized a little while back that I made the new Queen Bee pretty important around Chapter 17, and since Season 4 should be coming out so soon with the information about Chloe's replacement, I decided to scrap the original replacement I came up with and just wait until I have the canon information. Because of that, I will be spacing out chapters a LOT more in this book. And as a quick forewarning, there are a bunch of pretty nasty cliffhangers in here, so sorry in advance! But for now, just enjoy reading!

Night was the best time to do these things, I decided. Under cover of darkness, no one could see where I came from or where I went. I could be as elusive as a shadow.

Plus, there was usually a lot less company.

I waited outside Gabriel’s window. He and Nathalie were talking about work, I guessed from their body language. Then, _finally_ , Nathalie yawned, and with a little pushing from Gabriel, stood up. Gabriel gave her a little good-night peck, and Nathalie walked out the door.

Aww, they were just so _cute_ together! I could honestly just--

 _No!_ I slapped myself inwardly. _Now is not the time! Focus, Ashley, come on!_

Once I was sure Nathalie was definitely gone, I slid the window open, just barely wide enough for me to slip through. Gabriel whipped around in the direction of the noise, startled. Before he could make a sound, however, I swung through the gap and put a finger to my lips, signalling him to be quiet.

“Kylina?” said Gabriel, sounding confused and surprised.

“Don’t worry,” I said reassuringly. “I’m not here to arrest you or anything.”

“Then why _are_ you here?” Gabriel asked, still on his guard.

“I just want to ask you something,” I said. “I’ve been away on… and important mission, and I just wanted to make sure you returned the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses to their Guardian.”

“Oh.” Gabriel looked relieved that I really _wasn’t_ there to turn him in. “Yes, I did. Or-- I gave them to the messenger they sent, that is.”

I frowned. “Messenger?” Something wasn’t right about that. Marinette was _way_ too much of a worrier to trust someone else with something as important as retrieving a Miraculous, much less _two_. Wouldn’t she have turned up as Ladybug to collect them herself?

“Yes,” Gabriel said, noticing my uneasiness and looking slightly disturbed. “She came straight from Ladybug to collect them.”

“Did you see what she looked like?” I asked urgently.

“Well… no,” Gabriel admitted. “She wore a hood to cover her face. She said it was to protect Ladybug’s identity.”

That _was_ a believable explanation, but my stomach still twisted into knots. “What more can you tell me about her?”

“Well…” Gabriel looked thoughtful for a moment. “It was a young woman, probably in her early to mid-twenties. Her voice _did_ seem somewhat familiar, but I suppose that wasn’t really what I noticed. Her red cloak was much more striking.”

A chill ran down my spine. “She wore red?”

“A very rich red,” Gabriel confirmed. “It wasn’t quite the shade used for the Guardians’ symbols, but I guessed--”

“M. Agreste,” I interrupted him. “Did you see what color her hair was?”

Gabriel hesitated. “It was an odd shade of dark red-brown,” he finally said.

Horror stabbed through my body, but I struggled to appear calm. “Thank you for your time and cooperation,” I said, quickly retreating to the window. “Your information has been incredibly invaluable. But-- I’m sorry, I have to go.” Before he could ask me any questions, I zipped out the window.

Adrien was waiting for me in my bedroom, all fidgety. “So?”

“Bad,” I panted. “Very bad. She--”

I screamed. My abdomen had suddenly exploded in pain. It felt like someone was hacking at my body from inside. It was an unexpected sensation, but not all that unfamiliar, I realized with a start.

“How?” I gasped. “She _never_ comes on this quickly. What--” I shrieked again as the stabbing pain returned, more intense and agonizing with every slash of torment.

“Ashley!” Adrien exclaimed, rushing to my side and grabbing my shoulders as my costume shed itself from my body. Being returned to civilian form only made the excruciating pain even worse, and I gagged, unable to summon enough breath for a proper scream.

“Ashley!” Adrien said again, shaking me a bit. “What’s going on? What’s the matter?”

And then the world turned black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have much to add in notes right now. I'm kind of brain-dead at the moment, and I feel like there are things I could tell you about, but I can't think of any of them right now. Sorry! If there is something in here that you want to ask about, feel free to leave it in the comments and I will respond as best I can.  
> I know quarantine is kind of ending, but I still feel the need to ask you to stay safe. If my brothers are any indication, people do stupid things when they get to reintegrate into society. So, have fun and stay safe!


	4. Adrien

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien witnesses a prophecy like no other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Sugarcubes! I'm SUPER excited to give you this next addition to the story of the Jaguar! Enjoy!

Ashley’s eyes rolled back into her head. Her body went limp, and she slumped lifelessly onto her bed.

“Oh, God,” I gasped, staggering back in fear. “Ashley! Are you--”

 _“DOOM!”_ Ashley cried, and it was instantly clear that she wasn’t Ashley anymore.

But it wasn’t the Oracle, either. Her eyes glowed green, not white, and the voice issuing from her lips didn’t belong to the Spirit of Delphia.

 _“She will bring doom upon this world!”_ not-Ashley continued. _“Eighteen days hence, her wrath will be unstoppable!”_

She shuddered. Then her mouth began to open, wider than should have been possible, like a snake unhinging its jaw. Emerald smoke poured from the gaping hole in her face, and she spoke.

_Find the moth that flies with birds_

_Whose tale of past is yet unheard_

_Her lies, her wits, her secret tools_

_Have won for her a miracle jewel_

_Her actions will drive the Jaguar wild_

_Beware the Amber Queen’s firstborn child._

Whatever spirit had taken over Ashley paused. Then her body began to shake madly, and an unearthly moan issued from her gaping mouth.

“Ashley, _what’s going on?_ ” I bellowed.

The question freed Ashley from her trance. The green smoke curled back into her mouth and vanished. The emerald glow faded from her eyes, and she fell limp again.

“Ashley!” I rushed to look over her unmoving body. Closer inspection told me that she was just barely breathing. I didn’t know whether to be worried that she wasn’t getting enough air or relieved that she was at least alive.

“Ashley,” I said again, “come on. Come on, please, wake up!”

She didn’t move.

“Ashley!” I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her once. “ _Wake up!_ ”

Ashley’s eyes shot open. She sat up so fast that her face almost broke my nose. She stared at the opposite wall, eyes wide, gasping like a fish out of water.

“Ashley?” I said tentatively. “Are you okay?”

Ashley clutched at her chest, like she was making sure her heart was still beating. “What-- just-- happened?” she panted, not looking at me.

“I don’t know,” I said truthfully. “It was like the Oracle, only… not.”

“Explain,” Ashley commanded.

I told her about the voice, the green eyes and smoke, and the rhyming words, like she had recited a poem.

“Do you remember them exactly?” she pressed.

Of course I did. I doubted they could ever be erased from my mind. I relayed the spirit’s words to her.

Ashley was quiet when I finished. “A real prophecy,” she said in a hushed voice. “Like in the myths.”

“Do you think…” I paused, nervous about her answer. “Do you think it has anything to do with what you were trying to tell me before?”

Ashley’s eyes were filled with a solemn intensity I’d only seen twice before, when she was facing a villain who threatened the safety of the people she loved. “I think it has _everything_ to do with it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whaaaaaaat? Nooooo, I'm not taking ideas for prophecies from Percy Jackson, what are you talking about?  
> This scene was mostly pretty easy to write, except for the prophecy. I am TERRIBLE at writing poetry, so writing a prophecy was like my worst nightmare inside of my favorite dream. However, I think I managed pretty well.  
> It was TORTURE writing the timeline, though. Originally, it was going to be thirty days, but then I felt like that was too long, especially considering how I wrote the chapters between the prophecy and its fulfillment, so I changed it, and changed it, but no matter how many days I planned on, it still seemed like too long or too short. Just be aware that the number of days may continue to change as the story goes on.  
> That's all I've got for today. A lot of this stuff will tie into the next chapter, or the one after it, or... well, somewhere in the future. Have fun and stay safe!


	5. Ashley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley contacts the princesses about what she has discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I'm going to apologize right now for how frequently the chapters are coming. It may not seem like much of a problem right now, but I'm going to have to cut off at some point so I can figure out who the new Queen Bee is, which may mean a super long hiatus in the middle of the book because I posted too quickly. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, enjoy!

“Can I ask _what_ we’re doing here again?”

We-- Cat Noir, Ladybug, and I-- were standing in a remote cave in the mountains, miles from Paris. I hoped I’d have enough energy for the teleportation _back_ , but with the spell I was about to attempt, I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to stay on my feet if it worked.

“We can’t risk anyone else finding out about this,” I said, examining the smallish waterfall that cascaded down the back wall of the cavern. “It could spell disaster for all of Paris, maybe even the whole _world_.”

“Kinda got that from the whole ‘doom’ thing,” Cat Noir grumbled.

I shot him a quick glare before turning back to the waterfall. Yes, this would work. Probably.

“ ‘ _Doom?_ ’ ” Ladybug repeated, looking stricken. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand…”

“You will,” I assured her. “Sorry to drag you out here so suddenly, by the way. I just didn’t want to explain everything twice.”

Ladybug frowned, but didn’t say anything else.

“What exactly are you planning to do?” asked Cat Noir.

“No idea.”

“Oh.” Cat Noir blinked. “Great. That’s a great sign. Well, then… fire away, I guess.”

“Will do,” I muttered. “Sure hope this works.” I pointed my hands at the rippling water. “ _Crystal Televisifon!_ ”

The rushing water shimmered silver. _Yes!_ “Show me Princess Iris,” I commanded.

The waterfall glimmered again, and a half-blurred image appeared in the flow.

It was Iris. She was seated at her throne in the palace of Ephedia, pink hair and all, conversing with Talia and Auriana, who also bore the vibrant colors of their individual kingdoms. All three of them wore somber expressions on their faces. “We’ll have to contact her somehow,” Iris said. “The problem is, we don’t know when she’s secure, and I can’t afford to leave Ephedia now--”

I cleared my throat, and the three princesses looked up in surprise. “Ashley!” Iris said, the look in her eyes a mix of relief and concern. “Thank goodness, we really need to tell you something--”

“So do I,” I said. “Something happened last night…” I told her about what had happened in my room, looking to Cat Noir every now and then for any details I might have missed or gotten wrong.

“So I was wondering… Are there any Oracles other than the Spirit of Delphia?” I asked when I’d finished.

Talia nodded. “In the times of ancient Greece on Earth, there were six Delphian princesses. The five youngest were sent to Earth, where they each channeled a different Oracle. The one you described hosting just now sounds like Serpentia. In ancient Greece, she was known as the speaker of Python.”

“So… I channeled a different Oracle?” I said. “Why would that happen?”

“Your powers are advancing,” said Talia. “You developed them to the point that you had the capability to host a second Oracle, and you were given the one you needed most at the time.”

“But why would I need one Oracle more than another?” I asked.

“Each of the Oracles serves a different purpose. Serpentia, for example, is a warner,” said Talia. “Something very bad would have to be coming up in the future in order for her to be the one you received.”

I shivered. “Yeah, about that…” I told them about my conversation with Gabriel.

“I think…” I tried to swallow the huge lump in my throat. “I think the woman who took the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses was Praxina.”

Talia had a look of resigned acceptance in her eyes. “Yes, I was afraid you would say that.”

“Why?”

“Because I would have to agree with you,” she said. “You see, we’ve made a rather alarming discovery ourselves.”

“What is it?” I asked uneasily. I didn’t like the foreboding tone in her words.

Talia skipped over my question. “Is Mephisto with you?”

Without looking away from the waterfall, I snapped my fingers. A young man of twenty-two materialized next to me, his disgruntled expression marred by the sandwich crumbs sticking to his chin. “How many times have I told you not to do that without warning me?” he demanded with a scowl.

“Sorry,” I said, not sounding sorry at all, even to myself. “It was an emergency.”

“I was in the middle of lunch!”

“Please, Mephisto,” said Iris. “You need to hear this, too.”

Mephisto turned, realizing for the first time that the Ephedian princesses were watching. His eyes widened, and he dropped to one knee in a bow. “Princess Iris!” Out of the corner of his mouth, he muttered to me, “Why didn’t you _tell_ me you were gonna try this spell?”

I rolled my eyes. Mephisto had taken over as my mentor in magic after the princesses left Earth, and he was sort of obsessed with being present for my every milestone. “Relax, _Dad_ ,” I said. “It was urgent.”

Iris nodded at Ladybug and Cat Noir. “You might want to send them home now.”

“ _What?_ ” I exclaimed at the same time as my friends. “Why?”

“This spell is difficult to use on those lacking Ephedian blood,” said Talia. “And it’s even harder to reverse it. You two might be trapped here forever-- along with your Miraculous.”

“Wait,” I said. “You’re summoning us to _Ephedia_?”

“There are some things that can’t be divulged this way,” said Talia. “Praxina could intercept this and hear everything.”

I bit my lip, then turned to my friends. “I’ll tell you everything,” I promised.

They nodded reluctantly. I cast the spell, and they vanished.

“Okay,” I said, turning back to the princesses. “I’m ready.”

“Good,” said Iris. “And Mephisto, get up. You don’t have to _kneel_ to me.”

“Right,” said Mephisto, turning red as he got to his feet. “Sorry.”

I noticed him shoot a short, nervous glance at Talia as the princesses arranged themselves in a circle and clasped hands. Aw, did my mentor, who constantly pretended to be disgusted by human romance, have a little crush of his own?

An intricate golden spell circle appeared beneath the feet of the princesses in the waterfall image. The light from the enchantment illuminated their faces with an ethereal glow, their billowing hair floating over their heads like brightly-colored halos. Even though it was just an image in the waterfall for the time being, I could feel the power of these three combined radiating through the illusion into reality, into my soul. “ _Crystal Accioendele!_ ” they called in unison.

A sudden wind rushed through the cave, ripping my long bangs out of my ponytail and blowing them into my eyes. It sped faster and faster, circling around me and Mephisto like a tornado. Feeling as though I was about to be swept off my feet, I closed my eyes and braced myself.

My feet left the ground, and I was slowly lifted into the air. Like the wind, my ascent slowly sped up until I was rocketing toward the sky, as if the cave had no ceiling at all. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, praying for the journey to end soon.

And then the roaring in my ears stopped, and everything was still.

Absolutely still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe... I used to love Magic Tree House as a kid.  
> Confession time: I stole the idea of the Oracle(s) from Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan. ("Whaaaat?" you say. "We had NO IDEA!" I know, I was so subtle about it, right?) Serpentia is based on the main Oracle from the myths, the Oracle at Delphi (hmm, uncannily similar to *Delphia*, isn't it?), and it and the other Oracles the five Delphian princesses in Greece channeled are the five Oracles in TOA. (Thanks, Uncle Rick!) The Spirit of Delphia, however, is my own original idea (sort of; I'm hardly the seven-millionth person to come up with the idea of a fortune-telling Oracle).  
> And yes, I do ship Talisto. I think I mentioned it before, but I'll say it again and a million times after: TALISTO FOREVER!!!  
> That's all my half-dead brain can think of to say for now. Have fun and stay safe!


	6. Ashley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley learns the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, Sugarcubes! It's finally back-- and on the day of the New York special premiere! Super excited to see how I can fit Ashley into this world! But for now, please enjoy the next installment of Kylina's main story!

I hesitantly opened my eyes the tiniest bit, just to be sure I wasn’t imagining it. Okay, we had definitely stopped. I lowered my hands, which had been gripping my shoulders tight enough to restrict blood flow, and stared at my new surroundings, dumbstruck.

I was standing in the grand throne room of the palace of Ephedia. Lined with gold and jewels and other shiny, sparkly decor, the grand centerpiece was the magnificent throne, in front of which the three princesses were smiling at us.

“Wow,” I said, gaping at the blinding shiny-ness of the palace. “This is… wow.”

“I know,” sighed Iris. “Honestly, it’s a little bit overkill.”

Mephisto was looking around uneasily. “This is… different,” he said at last.

Right. The last time Mephisto was here, Gramorr was in charge. I could only imagine how different it must seem.

Talia nodded at a door off to the side of the room. “Come along,” she said. “This concerns you both.”

* * *

_[Mood Music: The Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8swUC6FpSJM&t=1s) _

It looked like this was the grand war room. There was a long table in the center, circled by thirty-eight large chairs with one at the head, presumably for each of the princesses of the other kingdoms. I couldn’t help noticing, however, that the balance of the chairs on the long sides was set off by a large gap between two of the seats on the left.

“So what happened?” I asked, sitting in a free seat with the symbol of a spade on the back. “You guys are acting like somebody’s died or something. What’s going on?”

Talia, Iris, and Auriana shared knowing looks with one another. “It has to do with that note you showed us last year,” said Talia.

I frowned. “My birth mother’s letter?”

“That’s the one.” Iris sat down in the largest seat at the head of the table. “Rosadia’s final confession.”

The other princesses sat down in the mini-thrones that bore their kingdoms’ symbols. Mephisto, meanwhile, took another empty seat, one with a snowflake engraved on the back. “We told you that your letter cleared up a lot of holes in Rosadia’s story,” said Auriana. “The one we’d like to talk to you about today was the thing about Mordur.”

Mordur? “Wasn’t he the guy Rosadia--”

“--ordered to kill her sister’s children? Yes,” said Talia.

“We discovered a prisoner in Gramorr’s dungeon after the war ended,” said Iris. “He said he used to be called Mordur.”

“After we read your letter, we went back and talked to him,” said Talia. “He told us a story that… _differed_ from Rosadia’s. But the differences were details Rosadia wouldn’t have known.”

I leaned forward. “What did he say?”

Iris inhaled deeply. “Mordur was imprisoned by Gramorr for treason. It happened shortly after the murders of the Delphian prince and princess.”

“What no one knew before,” said Auriana, “was that Mordur had been one of Gramorr’s secret assassins.”

I gaped at them. “So he used Rosadia’s request as… an _invitation_ to kill?”

“Yes…” said Talia hesitantly. “And no. Mordur was ordered by Gramorr to infiltrate the Delphian palace and search for weak spots. He was, you could say, killing two birds with one stone.”

“But once Mordur had laid eyes on the royal children, he changed his mind,” said Iris. “He claimed he sensed… unattainable power coming from them. So instead of killing them, he took them to Gramorr.”

“Gramorr was furious at first,” said Auriana. “He thought raising the children was a responsibility he didn’t want. So he imprisoned Mordur.”

“But he didn’t kill the kids,” I guessed.

Talia shook her head. “He sensed their power as well, and believed they could become his most powerful pieces to play in the war.”

I glanced at Mephisto and did a double take. His expression was a cross between silent shock and paralyzing horror.

“You understand, Mephisto,” said Iris, noticing him too.

Mephisto didn’t respond.

“Understand what?” I demanded. “What do you mean?”

“Gramorr raised the twins and trained them to serve him,” said Talia. “They became his most fearsome warriors, who took over doing his dirty work.”

A sick feeling settled in my stomach. “What’s your point?” I whispered, though I had a sinking feeling I knew full well what the answer was going to be.

“ _Beware the Amber Queen’s firstborn child,_ ” Talia quoted softly. “Queen Amberly was known by the palace children as the ‘Amber Queen’.”

“And her firstborn child,” said Auriana, “is the lost princess of Delphia-- the _first_ one.”

I struggled to breathe. I felt like I was trapped in crystal, motionless and cut off from air. “Impossible,” I managed to choke out. “He _had_ to be lying--”

“We used a spell to check,” said Iris. “He was being completely honest.”

I gasped for breath. “You can’t possibly mean…” I shook my head. “The spell… the spell was lying. It glitched or something. There’s no possible way…”

“We thought so, too, at first,” said Talia. “But… well, Mephisto?”

Mephisto stared at the tabletop, stunned. “Gramorr never really told us where we came from,” he murmured. “He only said we were given to him by a servant who was too cowardly to obey.”

A shiver ran through my body. “Praxina’s my _cousin_?”

Their silence carried all the answer I needed.

A sob tore through my chest. It couldn’t be true, it _had_ to be a lie…. Praxina, Mephisto’s insane sister, intent on ridding me of my life and love-- the daughter of the hero of Delphia, the queen my mother had begged me to be like in her dying moments?

“We can send you home now, if you want,” said Iris gently.

I nodded, too horrified for words.

Talia, Auriana, and Iris stretched their hands out toward me and muttered a few words. The whistling of the magic wind could not drown out the roaring of the truth in my ears.

A moment later, I materialized in my bedroom, where Adrien was waiting for me. He started when I appeared, but quickly jumped up, looking into my eyes with a frantic kind of anxiety. “Well?”

I fell into his arms and dissolved into tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uf. Pain for Ashley.  
> I thought I was being pretty subtle about the whole "Praxina-and-Ashley-are-cousins" thing the whole time, but I dunno. Was specifying that Amberly's kids were twins in Panda Princess too much?  
> Actually, Ashley's relation to Praxina is a relatively young concept in my mind. Originally, Ashley and Praxina were going to have no relation whatsoever. Then, during the stages of development when Rosadia and Amberly were the same person, they were going to be sisters. However, I thought it would make more sense if the queens were two different people and Rosadia was a little bit of a slut. They were still going to be sisters, but I later thought that making them cousins would make plot development a whole lot simpler, because then I could kill off Rosadia after her first pregnancy and make it so Ashley's father was Ephedian instead of human. (Actually, I'm kind of toying with the idea of making Ashley's biological father something else entirely... but that's for a later time.)  
> Oh yeah, I was also going to talk about the seating in the war room. Ashley notices a gap between two seats on the left. This was where the queen/princess of Delphia would sit, but after Gramorr destroyed Delphia and took over the palace of Ephedia, he destroyed the Delphian seat. He planned to do this with every kingdom he leveled, as a symbol of erasing each of the kingdoms entirely. So originally, there were thirty-nine Ephedian kingdoms (if you're counting Ephedia as a whole), but Delphia's representation in the palace was destroyed by Gramorr.  
> That's all I have for notes today. Have fun and stay safe!


	7. Ashley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley tells Adrien what she's learned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I'm posting quite a bit more frequently now that I've taken a super long hiatus. (I did NOT mean to take that long a couple chapters ago, I could never find a time to get on the computer. Ugh, class.) But anyway, you'll be getting quite a bit more from me in the coming months. Enjoy!

“Wow,” Adrien said in a hushed voice when I’d finished. “That’s really hard.”

I sniffled and nodded. I was glad I could talk to Adrien about this. After all, he himself had recently discovered that he was closely related to a supervillain.

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” I said. “Do you think she knows?”

“If Mephisto didn’t know, Praxina probably doesn’t,” said Adrien.

“But Praxina knew a lot of stuff Mephisto didn’t,” I pointed out miserably. “What if she somehow found out? What if she went back to Delphia? What if Amberly’s circlet _wasn’t_ destroyed and now Praxina has it? And what if--”

“Woah, calm down,” Adrien said. “You’ll drive yourself crazy with all this ‘what if’ stuff. Just try and accept the truth. That’s what I--”

“I can’t just _accept the truth_ , Adrien,” I said. “I know you found out your dad was a villain, which I know must’ve been really awful, but…” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Rosadia asked me to try to be like Amberly. Everyone who’s even _heard_ about her says she was the greatest queen in Delphia, maybe even in all of Ephedia. And now I find out that her _daughter_ is--”

“--a power-hungry, murderous witch,” said Adrien. “I know. But I also know that you’re nothing like her.”

“That’s not what bothers me,” I said. “How can I fight her, knowing she--” I broke off, stifling a sob.

“Maybe you won’t have to fight,” Adrien suggested.

“ _Of course_ we’ll have to fight, Adrien,” I said. “Praxina is _nothing_ like your father. She won’t stop because we share blood. She wants to _spill_ my blood. If she found out, she’d probably want to kill me even more. If it weren’t for my mother, she would have been a princess in Delphia--”

“Which was burned to the ground when she was five years old,” Adrien reminded me. “She would’ve either died or been recruited by Gramorr, only five years later.”

I stared at him. “Are you implying that Rosadia _saved_ Praxina?”

“No,” he said patiently. “It would have happened either way.”

This _did_ make sense, but I shook my head. “Praxina wouldn’t see it that way,” I said. “She’s blinded by her hatred. The princesses tried for _six years_ to tell her Mephisto wasn’t their fault, but she’s too stubborn.”

Adrien sighed. “I can tell you need a change of subject.” He took a piece of notebook paper off of my bedside table and handed it to me. “I copied down your prophecy.”

I nodded. “That’ll help.” But one look at the last line made me want to break out into hysterical sobs again.

“Most of it makes sense now,” Adrien said. “Praxina lied and used her wits to steal the Butterfly Miraculous from my father, along with some ‘secret tool.’ And the ‘moth that flies with birds’-- that’s Hawk Moth, her new identity.” He didn’t mention the “tale of past yet unheard” or “Amber Queen’s firstborn child.”

“There’s one line I still don’t understand, though,” Adrien went on. “ ‘Her actions will drive the Jaguar wild.’ What could that mean?”

My blood suddenly chilled. “Oh, no.”

“What?” Adrien asked, noticing my tone. “What is it?”

“She’s going to awaken the Jaguar,” I whispered, horrorstruck.

“Ashley, you’re scaring me,” said Adrien. “What are you talking about?”

I glanced at Mistry, who was peeking out of the dresser drawer at me with a troubled look. “The Jaguar,” I repeated. “The Miraculous of madness.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much for notes today. Nothing, really. Just going to give my chapterly message: Have fun and stay safe!


	8. Ashley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley reveals the background of the Jaguar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Sugarcubes! Welcome back to The Jaguar! Please enjoy!

“ _What do you mean,_ you can’t sense it?!”

I blew my bangs out of my face with an exasperated huff. I had fully expected Marinette to react like this, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still kind of taxing on the nerves.

“I mean, _I can’t sense it_ ,” I said. “Either of them. The Butterfly and the Jaguar are Camouflaged. They’re completely hidden from the Panda.”

Marinette moaned. “ _Please_ tell me you’re making a very, very bad joke.”

“No such luck,” I said. “Are you not going to say _anything_ about the fact that I am related to the psychopath who stole two Miraculouses?”

“Oh,” said Marinette, blinking. “Well, I can’t honestly say I can relate. It’s not like the first Hawk Moth was my uncle or something.”

I grit my teeth. _Argh_ , it drove me _nuts_ when she said stuff like that!

“Well, nothing’s going to change the fact that I can’t find her,” I said. “I can’t sense a Camouflaged Miraculous unless I actually _see_ it, in person. Besides, even if I _had_ seen the Butterfly or the Peacock, Praxina will have used a spell to reconceal them by now.”

Marinette buried her face in her hands. “Fantastic. We are _so_ dead.”

“Oh, quit bellyaching,” I said. “We still have sixteen days left before the Jaguar is unleashed.”

“How is _that_ good news?” Marinette groaned.

“The Jaguar represents madness,” I explained. “Mistry told me that after someone finds the armband, they’re magically bound to it for three weeks. They have that long to ‘tame’ the Jaguar. If they succeed, they can either keep it to wield safely or remove it and leave it for someone else to find.”

“I don’t see how this is helpful,” Marinette said, her voice muffled by her hands.

“During those three weeks, the Miraculous infects its holder with madness,” I went on. “If the holder fails to tame the Jaguar, they succumb to the madness and wreak havoc until the Panda holder can use her Scales.”

“This just keeps getting better and better,” Marinette mumbled.

“No, no, it’s okay!” I said. “The destructive stage of madness doesn’t come through until the three weeks are up, but the person is still mad throughout the whole process. All we have to do is wait and see if anyone starts acting weird.”

Marinette peeked through her fingers at me. “And then we can see if they have the Jaguar Miraculous?”

“We can try,” I said. “Whoever has it will have been in possession of the armband for five days by now. The madness will already be manifesting.”

“But how?” Marinette asked. “What will it be like?”

I bit my lip. “I don’t know. Mistry said it varies from person to person.”

“And is it too much to hope that this person tames the Jaguar?”

“Serpentia said Praxina’s actions will drive the Jaguar wild,” I said grimly. “I’m afraid it _is_ too much to hope for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you in the first book that I'd explain how Ashley never knew Gabriel was Hawk Moth. Well, here's the information. The Butterfly, Peacock, and Jaguar Miraculouses, as well as a few others, are enchanted so that the Panda Miraculous holder can't get any information on it until she actually sees the Miraculous in question in person. Ashley never saw the brooches or the armband in person, so the bracelet didn't burn when she saw Gabriel and Nathalie.  
> In other notes, the Jaguar Miraculous! When the Jaguar is unleashed, it can only be defeated by the Panda. It's happened multiple times before, and I'm contemplating writing a prequel spin-off about one of the previous Panda Miraculous holders. The storyline isn't coming together that well at the moment, but maybe in the future!  
> Also no. I'm not sure if "reconceal" is a real word. Google thought it was fine, but this site doesn't think it exists. Well it does now!  
> That's all I have for notes today. Have fun and stay safe!


	9. Ashley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley visits Caleb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, y'all! I've realized that this has been taking a whole lot longer than I meant it to. Sorry! But anyway, here's a new section of the Jaguar story! Enjoy!

Caleb wasn’t at school that day, which really freaked me out. After having him back, even for just a day, I felt like I was on some kind of medication, and when he left, I had withdrawal. So I went to visit him.

I knocked gently on the door to the Anciels’ house. As I’d expected, Marc’s mother was the one to answer.

“Oh, hello, Ashley!” she said cheerfully. “Here to see Caleb?”

“Yes, madame,” I said, smiling inwardly. I hadn’t explicitly told her about my crush on Caleb, but I was pretty sure she had figured it out.

“Well, come right on in,” Madame Anciel said, opening the door wider to allow me to enter. “He’s in his room.”

I accepted the invitation and entered. “You noticed he wasn’t in school today?” asked Madame Anciel. I nodded.

“Poor thing wasn’t feeling well,” Madame Anciel went on. “I insisted that he stay home until he felt better.” She stopped in front of Caleb’s door. “A word of warning,” she added in a hushed whisper, “he’s a bit irritable, so watch out.”

I smiled. I’d seen Caleb at his worst back in Colorado too many times to count. “I think I can handle it.”

As Madame Anciel bustled off, I opened the door. “What?” came Caleb’s muffled voice from his pillow.

“It’s me,” I said, closing the door behind me. “I came to see you.”

Caleb lifted his head to look at me, and I choked back a startled sob. His eyes were sunken and full of fury. “Get out,” he said, his voice hoarse, as if he’d been crying. “I don’t want to look at you.”

His harsh words hit me like he’d actually gotten up and slapped me. “What?” I said, unable to keep the hurt out of my voice. “Caleb, what are you--?”

“Are you deaf?” Caleb asked, raising his voice. He got up off the bed and stood over me, unbridled hatred in his eyes. “Get. Your ass. _OUT!_ ”

For half a second, I couldn’t respond. What was with him? Caleb had never acted like this before.

Then anger filled my chest. “Listen, Caleb,” I said, staring into those rage-filled eyes that were so unlike the ones I loved, “I know you may be feeling like a load of garbage right now, and I get that, but it’s no excuse for you to start acting like an _ass_!”

Caleb blinked, looking startled, and my anger was immediately replaced with guilt. I _never_ swore at him, not even when I was really upset with him.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, his blue eyes filling with remorse. He backed down and sat on his bed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t-- I don’t know what came over me.”

Seeing him in so much pain melted me. “I’m sorry, too,” I said gently, sitting down next to him. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, even if you deserved it.”

“No, you were right,” Caleb said, not looking up at me. “I-- I don’t know what’s going on. It’s like one minute I feel totally normal, and then the next I’m lashing out at everyone and acting like-- like--” He stopped, hesitant to say whatever was on his mind.

“Like a vile, loathsome, evil little cockroach?” I offered.

He smiled a little, understanding my reference. “Yeah, that.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m not gonna punch you in the nose.”

“Thank goodness for that,” Caleb said dryly, sounding like himself again.

We laughed softly, and the mood in the room reminded me of the week after my little brother Simon’s funeral, when the sorrow and guilt that I personally had felt had numbed to silent shock. Caleb, who I had then loved for a year, was like my personal sun, the light shining through the clouds of my own self blame and darkness.

Now, as I sat there with him, my heart ached to reach out and hold his hand, to take him into my arms and whisper in his ear that it would all be okay, that I would love him forever, just the way I had for seven years now. I longed to lean over and gently press my lips to his, not in passion, but in reassurance, in a promise of love and friendship to last always.

But I didn’t. Well, I _did_ take his hand, but in a gesture of simple friendship, or at least that’s how he’d see it. He could never guess that under the mask of a small act normal among friends lay boundless love.

“You’ll be okay,” I assured him. “Trust me. You’ve never let a little cough get you down before, have you?”

Caleb laughed slightly. “I guess not.”

“No, you haven’t,” I agreed. “And I don’t expect you to start anytime soon.”

Caleb raised an eyebrow at me teasingly. “You don’t _expect_ it?” he poked at me. “I thought you knew everything for a fact.”

“Unfortunately, you’re all too spontaneous for me to know anything about you for sure,” I said drily. “Except, of course, that you still have a soft spot for your old baby blanket.” As I said this, I pulled said blanket out from under the mattress, the same place Caleb had hidden it back in Colorado. I laughed as he snatched it back, noticing that he was unable to repress a snicker himself.

We talked for I don’t know how long, like nothing had ever happened in the first place. I felt like I was thirteen again, like we could be sitting in my old apartment back in Colorado or in Caleb’s attic or in the theater where we first met. Everything felt the same, from the small talk to the teasing to the all too familiar pang in my chest as he laughed, a loud tenor that reverberated around the room and made you laugh along even if you didn’t understand the joke. A laugh that made his eyes crinkle at the corners and sparkle, made the sun shine out of his face and light up the room. And all I could think as my eyes met his in those moments of laughter was how much I wished he could have known, how even he, my best friend since childhood, the one who had known me the longest and best, had been lied to when we met and was still hearing lies from me.

 _If only I could tell you,_ I thought mournfully. _If only it were possible for me to tell you that I am a superhero, that I’ve saved you from danger far more than I would have liked you to be in it._

_If only you knew that I love you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter so much. It's one of those previously rare chapters where I get to explore Ashley's love for Caleb. From this point forward, though, these chapters are going to be a lot more frequent.  
> Oh, by the way, sorry about the mild language, all you smaller readers. Feel free to bleep that part out in your brains.  
> A couple things to touch on. First, yes, that was a Harry Potter reference Ashley made. Like me, Ashley is a HUGE Potterhead. And Caleb shares that love, though not as strongly.  
> Second, I just wanted to confirm that Ashley is actually in love with Caleb. A lot of teenagers, especially around Ashley's age (seventeen) will claim that they are in love when they have a super big crush on someone, but Ashley's love for Caleb is the real deal. Not only does she love him in the romantic sense, but she loves him as a friend, which is an essential part of true love. Because of her friendly love for him, Caleb is unable to distinguish that from her romantic feelings. In addition, their families are so close that Caleb may see Ashley as a sister and nothing more. (I will neither confirm nor deny that he feels that way about her, though. You'll have to wait to find out.)  
> Finally, I wanted to tell you guys a little more about Caleb. There is a bit of irony where Ashley refers to Caleb as her personal sun, because if anything, those roles are reversed. Caleb suffers from depression and is suicidal. In fact, just before Ashley moved to New York, Caleb actually did attempt suicide at the thought of her leaving, as she was one of the only people who could remind him of his reason to live. Ashley is one of the only lights in his life, as he has suffered so much with his family and is very distant from most of them, the exception being his little sister, Katie (more on her later). Sadly, though Ashley is very aware of his issues, she feels powerless to help him, as she has never in her life seriously considered taking her own life. Being given the responsibility of protecting the world helps with that, but she is also just one of those people who simply cannot fathom the idea of suicide as an actual option.  
> A lot of this about Caleb and his depression is based on reality. Caleb is based on a real person in my life, who I befriended in high school and had a crush on even longer. When I first started drafting the Kylina Chronicles out, I didn't know this person very well, so I created Caleb as the perfect version of the guy I liked. However, once I really got to know this boy, I tweaked Caleb's character to better fit him. The boy who inspired Caleb really did have depression and frequently talked to me about taking his own life. It was usually very lighthearted and joking, but I knew that these jokes could become reality very quickly. After we became closer, I wanted to help him, but, like Ashley, I have never experienced depression or any kind of suicidal thoughts. It hurt deeply whenever he said he wouldn't be missed if he died, since I believed myself to be in love with him at the time. Even after I told him how I felt, he still told me that he thought no one cared about him. I remain friends with him to this day, and I have done everything I can to make him feel appreciated and important. The reason for me bringing this up is that I want to emphasize the importance of suicide prevention. Just calling or texting someone to let them know you're thinking about them can make a difference. Don't let an opportunity to help someone pass you by.  
> Jeez, these are probably the longest notes I've ever left on anything! Whoo, deep subjects! Anyway, that's all I have for today, so I leave you with my regular message: Have fun and stay safe!


	10. Princess Kylina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our hero trains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, Sugarcubes! We were really deep last chapter, and we will be remaining deep in this one, though not as far into the deep crevices of the mind and questioning humanity. Enjoy!

“Concentrate.”

“I’m _trying_.”

“Not hard enough, or I’d see some results. Try it again.”

Sweat beading on my forehead, I squeezed my eyes nearly all the way shut and pushed. My signature white magic circle appeared on my palm, and with all my might, I thought, _Crystum Pactus!_

Nothing happened.

“Again,” said Mephisto, standing cold and unmerciful in the corner. “You need to get these nonverbal spells down. Keep going.”

I grit my teeth in frustration as moisture dripped down the sides of my face. Ever since Mephisto had found out he was my cousin, and a prince at that, he had become absolutely ruthless in my training. I wouldn’t have minded-- I needed all the help I could get-- except that his criticism wasn’t exactly what you’d call constructive.

“Can I have a minute?” I panted, an effort that took all the willpower I had not to leap screaming like a wild animal at him, albeit an exhausted animal. “I really need to rest.”

“ _Rest?_ ” Mephisto’s eyes flared. “You think Praxina is going to let you _rest_ when she has you at her mercy? This is _war_ , Ashley. Trust me, when you face Praxina, she won’t be nearly as nice to you as I’m being now.”

“If this is nice, I’d hate to see you when you’re annoyed,” I muttered under my breath, then looked back up at my mentor. “Why are you acting like this? Ever since the princesses--”

“That’s not important,” Mephisto replied shortly. “The princesses asked me to train you, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“This isn’t _training_ ,” I protested. “This is torture! You yell at me to fix what I’m doing, but I still have no idea what I’m doing wrong!”

“Then figure it out yourself,” Mephisto snapped. “See how well you do without my help.”

“I don’t feel like I’m _getting_ help.” My anger cooled, and I frowned at my teacher in concern. “What’s going on? You’ve never acted like this before.”

Mephisto turned away, refusing to acknowledge me. My brain began working overtime. The snappishness, the complete dismissal of his formerly light-hearted and constructive teaching methods… Could Mephisto have the Jaguar Miraculous?

I crossed the arena to Mephisto and stood stubbornly in front of him, forcing him to look at me. “Hey,” I said, softly but firmly, “seriously, you okay?”

Mephisto sighed, his resolve to ignore me dissolving. “I don’t know,” he said, closing his eyes and resting his fingers over his lids, like he had a headache. “It’s just-- it’s a lot to take in, you know? That I was lied to all my life about my heritage, that I’m actually a-- a prince…” He winced, like it hurt him to say the word that should have been his life. “It’s really confusing.”

“I get it,” I said gently. “Who do you think you’re talking to? I had the exact same revelation when I was _ten_. It really does change your life.” I huffed quietly. “Not to mention you’re not the only one going through emotional turmoil right now. I found out that Praxina is my _blood_. That the woman my mother, in her dying moments, begged me to be like… gave birth to-- to the greatest evil I’ve ever had to face…” I exhaled deeply. “The fact that Praxina is, technically, the rightful heir to the Delphian throne… it scares me. It’s a really big shock, and I have to…”

I trailed off, unable to find the words. Mephisto said nothing.

“On the bright side,” I said at last, “it gave me you. I mean, that means we’re cousins. I have real blood family now. And,” I added, “between you and me, I think you’ve done a great job of living up to Amberly’s example.”

Mephisto glanced at me, a sad kind of hope sparkling in his eyes. “You really think so?”

“I _know_ so,” I said firmly. “I mean, just look at you! Once Gramorr’s right hand man, now reformed into the mentor to the princess of Delphia and loyal advisor of Princess Iris! I think your mother would have been really proud.”

Mephisto smiled. “Thanks.”

“So… do I get that break now?” I prompted gently.

Mephisto let out a sharp bark of laughter. “I think you’ve had your break. Let’s get back to it.”

“Damn it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My editor (read: Marlia) pointed out to me that Mephisto is very different in my books compared to the TV show. I just wanted to remind y'all that Mephisto spent six years alone in Alaska, deprived of any company except for our salty little Taxx. That really chilled him out. (Oh... haha. Yeah, that pun was... was totally intentional. I- I knew that was there.)  
> And also, as Amberly, I would like to give an overdue message to my son-- um, character. Ahem. *inhale* I LOVE YOU MEPHISTO ASHLEY IS RIGHT YOU REALLY HAVE MADE MAMA PROUD YOU GO BUDDY!!!!!! *clears throat* Thank you.  
> That's all I have for notes today thanks to my dead brain. Thanks for reading!


	11. Ashley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashley gets a (very) late night call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, Sugarcubes! I am so excited to be bringing you this chapter! Originally, this was just a filler chapter, but it's become one of my favorites because I finally get to introduce you to my third living OC, who holds a special place in my heart. More in the notes at the end, but for now, enjoy!

I’d woken up to the soft pink light many times in the middle of the night. It had just never happened since I came to Paris.

When the light first started to glow, forcing its way past my eyelids, begging to be acknowledged, I ignored it. She usually gave up after a few minutes without a response.

But the light glowed brighter, more insistent with each passing second. I tried to roll over and wait for it to pass, but once the light started rapidly flickering on and off like a strobe, it became impossible to ignore.

Grumbling in frustration, I rolled over and tapped on the lamp’s control panel to send out a red light as a message: _Knock it off._

The lamp didn’t light up again. Satisfied, I lay back down and closed my eyes.

_“I’M LONELYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!”_

I groaned at the high-pitched screeching. _Why_ had I chosen to make _that_ her ringtone?

Knowing there was no other way to shut her up, I picked up the phone and angrily tapped _Accept_. “Katie,” I growled quietly, “I swear to God, if you can’t take a hint, so help me, I will _make_ you.”

“What’s wrong with a bestie call before dinner?” Katie demanded.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes exasperatedly. “Time zones, Katie,” I said. “Time zones. Freaking-- it’s the middle of the night here!”

“Oh.” My best girlfriend was quiet for a moment. “Well, you’re awake now!”

I moaned. “Regrettably.” I sat down on the bed and waved a hand at Mistry, who was looking up from her makeshift bed in my dresser drawer with a disgruntled look. “So why’d you call?”

“I miss youuuuu,” Katie said in a high-pitched, all too familiar whine.

I grunted sleepily and ran my fingers through my wild, ratty hair. “It’s not that bad, Kate,” I said. “We’ve gone more than two years without seeing each other _every single day_. Being on opposite sides of the Atlantic isn’t that much different from being on opposite sides of the country.”

“It’s not the _same_ , though,” Katie whined, sounding more like she was five instead of sixteen. “It was easier to FaceTime you in New York.”

“Not by much.” I yawned and stretched, wincing at the loud crack in my neck. _Why_ did I have the bones of a fifty-year-old?! “So if you miss me so much, did you have any particular reason for calling me at two in the morning?”

“I _said_ I was sorry,” Katie mumbled, then went on before I could point out that she had not, in fact, apologized for waking me up. “I dunno. I guess I just wanted to talk about… stuff. How’re things going there?”

“Um…” I hesitated, unsure of how much I actually wanted to tell her. “Rougher than expected.”

“Why’s that?” Leave it to Katie to expect _all_ the details.

“PraxinastoletheButterflyMiraculousandImayhavepredictedtheendoftheworldinjustoveraweek,” I blurted out in one breath before I was able to stop myself.

“WHAT?!”

I told Katie the whole story: my conversation with Gabriel, the prophecy I’d spouted, how the owner of the Jaguar Miraculous was supposed to completely lose it in ten days. I only left out the revelation that I was related to Praxina, not wanting to be reminded of it myself.

“Wow,” Katie said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice when I’d finished. “That’s… way more dramatic than anything that happened before.”

I failed to suppress a wry snort. Katie had been my best girlfriend since I was nine, and for two years in Colorado, after Simon had died, she had been the only person who knew I was a superhero. I’d told her everything about my double life back then, but since coming to Paris, I’d sugarcoated a lot of the details, not wanting her to insist on joining me here and putting herself in any more danger than she was already in.

“You have no idea,” I said honestly. “I mean, I’ve had to fight for my life too many times to count before, but this is like a whole other level. For the first time I have more than just a city relying on me-- I have two entire planets!”

“That _is_ a lot of pressure,” Katie admitted. “But you have a sort-of plan, right? You always do.”

“Ha!” I scoffed. “Sure. I’m _totally_ not just making things up as I go along.” I breathed deeply. It was always too easy to talk to Katie; it was hard for me to disguise any of my real thoughts from her. “It’s _way_ too ironic that I own the fricking _Miraculous_ of balance and can’t find _any_ balance in my own life. On the one hand, I’ve got the saving of the world to think of. But on the other, I’m _totally_ failing Precalc and have to help Kitty Section with their new covers, not to mention the Fall Frolic that _I_ suggested so _I_ have to help with it, and I have to get Adrien and Marinette to dance together there and possibly drop another hint for Caleb and-- gah!” I threw myself back on my bed and buried my face in my giant Squishmallow panda. “I’m dying, Katie, please help.”

“Join the club,” Katie said dramatically. “Blake Heaver is supposed to be going to Homecoming alone and I have _nothing_ to wear. You need to come back so I can raid your closet for-- wait.” I could almost hear her evil kitty-grin creeping onto her face. “Did you say you’re inviting _Caleb_ to your school dance?”

I cringed and inwardly cursed myself, knowing what I had instigated. “No, I didn’t exactly say tha--”

“OH MY GOD!!!!!!” Katie shrieked, the volume and pitch of her voice making me wince away from the receiver. “That’s _awesome_ , Ashballs!! Progress is being made! Why didn’t you call me sooner--”

“Katie, _calm down_!” I said. “I haven’t actually _invited_ him yet. I… haven’t found a good opening.”

“Excuses,” Katie huffed. “You’re stalling.”

“I am not!” I protested, knowing even as I said it that it was a big fat lie. “He hasn’t been at school for a while. He hasn’t been feeling well.”

“Oh yeah…” Katie said. “I remember he was feeling sickish when he left. But he said it was fine. I thought it was just a cold.”

“Well, it’s not,” I said. “At least, I don’t think so. He’s been acting really weird, he’s got these crazy mood swings. Marc says he lashes out without warning and is totally fine a minute later.” Something weighed unsettlingly on my heart as I conveyed this, but I ignored it, figuring it was just the memory of my visit. “It happened when I went to see him. He swore at me.”

“ _No!_ ” Katie gasped.

“Yep,” I said. “But it turned out fine in the end. I chewed him out a little bit and he went back to normal.”

“It’s because he’s terrified of your rage mode,” Katie said with an almost suggestive tone.

“He _should_ be,” I shot back. “Rage mode has been triggered by many a villain over the years, and the ending is never pretty.”

“Maybe he’s got PMS,” Katie snickered.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, how’s that health grade, Kates?”

“You know what I mean.” She started making kissy sounds into the phone. “You’re the exact same at that time of month. You two are a match made in--”

“Uh-oh, you’re breaking up!” I cut her off suddenly, hissing through my clenched teeth to create a staticky sound. “ _Krshrsh!_ I’m gonna have to hang up. Smell ya later!”

“Nooo!” Katie wailed. “Don’t you _dare_ hang up! I still need to tell you about Blake’s--”

“Night, Kates, love ya, bye!” I said, clicking _End Call_. my phone screen went dark.

I settled back into bed. She wouldn’t call back, I was sure of that. She wouldn’t want to risk me dodging any future calls, and her mom would probably be kicking her off the phone pretty soon anyway.

Still, even though she had woken me up in the middle of the night, I was glad she’d called. That conversation had distracted me from my biggest problems and made me feel like a regular kid, if only for a few minutes. I couldn’t remember feeling that way since moving away from Colorado and Katie’s weird conversation starters. It was really nice.

But while our chat had soothed me temporarily, I couldn’t ignore the reminder it had given me. If I failed to stop the Jaguar, it wouldn’t just be my friends in Paris who would suffer.

It would be everyone on the entire planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EMERGENCY!!!! EMERGENCY!!!! CALEB'S ACTING LIKE HE HAS A COLD!!!! COVID ALERT!!!! COVID ALERT!!!!  
> ...No? Too soon? Okay then, sorry...  
> I'm SO EXCITED that you finally get to meet Katie!! For those of you who haven't been paying extra-close attention to the details (which is probably most of you), here's a quick refresher. Katie is Caleb's younger sister who is six months younger than Ashley. Ashley met Katie through Caleb, and they became best friends in a flash because of their kindred weird spirits. Katie's character is based on my bestie of besties, Marlia Blackbird. A lot of these details about Katie and Ashley's friendship come from real things about me and Marlia. For example, the friendship lamps are based on the ones Marlia and I worked to the bone to acquire and quickly realize had no real significance as long as we could just call each other. The ringtone of Katie screaming "I'M LONELYYYYYYYYY" also comes from me and Marlia. That is the ringtone I hear whenever Marlia calls me.  
> The biggest parallel between Katie and Marlia, however, is the way they react to the best friend crush. As I've said before, like Katie and Ashley, Caleb is based on a real person in my life. Though the person who inspired Caleb's character is not Marlia's sister in real life, the way Katie relentlessly teases Ashley about her crush on Caleb is 100 percent FACT. Marlia TORMENTS me about Caleb's inspiration, and she LOVES to stir up drama between me and this guy because she wants her life to be a soap opera. The evil kitty face Katie makes? I have an actual PHOTO of Marlia making that face. Trust me, whenever I see her get that look, I know I'm in for a few weeks of hardship and awkwardness.  
> Katie's obsession with this Blake kid is also rooted in pure fact. Marlia is a hopeless romantic, but other than the guy she has a crush on at the moment, she has no real life romantic interests. She only likes fictional or animated characters and Tom Holland. That's it. And she is RIDICULOUS about her fictional crushes. I decided to count them once, and I lost count around SEVENTY-FRICKING-EIGHT. On that note, though, her fictional crushes come in handy when I want to take my sweet revenge on her in my writing. Cat Noir is one of Marlia's top animated crushes, which is gonna make it really fun when Katie comes to Paris. (And she WILL be coming to Paris.) One of the ONLY reasons I included Peter Parker in this series is because Marlia LOOOOVES him. Blake Heaver, on the other hand, is based on Marlia's one real life crush. TASTE MY REVENGE, MARLIA!! MWAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!  
> That's all for today. Have fun and stay safe!


	12. Kylina

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylina must master the art of strategy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Sugarcubes! It's good to be back! Sorry this chapter is kind of short, but I'm kind of just writing filler chapters around this area. But anyway, enjoy!

I raced across the rooftops of Paris, my feet leaving the concrete so swiftly after touching that I could have been flying.

Someone had been akumatized for the first time since Gabriel had been discovered. There was no way that could be good.

I’d noticed a pattern in Praxina’s behavior from the stories the princesses had been telling me about the past six years they had spent fighting her-- she never made a move without a reason. Everything she did was carefully planned.

Battling Praxina was like playing a game of chess against the world master. Whenever she made an attack, there was no way to be sure whether she meant it, or if she was only trying to distract you with a sacrifice so you wouldn’t attack the piece she  _ really _ cared about.

Luckily for us, we had the flexibility to move more than one piece on our turn.

Ladybug and Cat Noir were both fending off the akuma, a girl in one of the senior classes who was furious at a group of students who had mocked her brilliant science fair project. She was incredibly dangerous; she wielded an arsenal of unstable chemicals that, when combined, could initiate disastrous explosions or release lethal, invisible toxins into the atmosphere.

That was another difference between Praxina and Gabriel. Praxina’s pawns were far more deadly.

But I couldn’t go back to help my friends. They could handle Alchemia. My job was far more important in the long run: to find the source of the akuma.

Easier said than done. Without the twine bracelet that Ladybug had gotten directly from Praxina the year before, an artifact that had not-so-mysteriously vanished after the Battle of the Jewel Trio, I had no way of finding a direct path to her. All I could do was follow the signature of her Ephedian power, which I had never experienced firsthand. I had learned from the princesses that while Praxina was enacting her plans, her signature was stronger, but I only had until Praxina recalled the akuma to track her. And if being on that time limit wasn’t enough, the few and far-between signals I was getting from her magic were scrambled and nearly indecipherable.

The air lit up, and the Miraculous Ladybugs whooshed past me. I grimaced as the traces of Praxina’s magic in the air blinked out like a lightswitch. Ladybug and Cat Noir must not have been able to stall any longer.

I heaved a sigh of frustration and started to head back, the dread of the situation finally settling on my chest.

It had been eleven days. Only a week left before the Jaguar rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there actually are one or two things to talk about here. The bracelet the heroes got from Praxina would have been able to lead them to her, even though that's not what it did in the last book. In LoliRock, it seems like the Crystalocum Ostendere spell works in different ways every time. It can show the location of a person or thing, or it can show where it came from. I take this to mean the spell works according to the intention with which the spell is cast. In the last book, Kylina used the spell with the intention of learning something about the owner of the item. This time, she would have used it to find the location of the owner. However, not long after the princesses returned to America, the bracelet disappeared from Ashley's room, and Ashley was able to recognize traces of Praxina's power signature where the bracelet had been.  
> This scene about one of Praxina's akuma victims gave me the chance to dive back into her villainy. I've always found it hilarious that the people of Paris think that Gabriel as Hawk Moth is so horrible and evil, but he only causes physical harm to people on the rarest of rare occasions. He claims to hate Ladybug and Cat Noir with every bone in his body, but he seems reluctant to hurt teenagers, possibly because of his own teenage son. I didn't believe for a second that Praxina would have the same discomfort with attacking kids, mostly because that's LITERALLY THE ONLY THING SHE DOES IN LOLIROCK. She can and will kill the heroes without hesitation, and with a smile on her face. For that reason, her akumatized pawns would definitely be fully capable of truly endangering and ending life. To that extent, I think she would love to come up with powers to give her pawns that would come with the slowest, most painful forms of torture to perform on innocent bystanders, just for her entertainment.  
> Oh, and you think that's bad? Ohhoohohohohho, you better stop reading now because this book is gonna get REEEEAAL intense toward the end. *insert mad scientist evil witch cackle here*  
> That's all for today. Have fun and stay safe!

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of the longest works I've ever written, and it still isn't done yet! This is such an elaborate story, in my eyes, at least, and I love adding more to the story than before! That's the great thing about having a series-- I can add detail after detail and keep building on the story with every book. I hope you all enjoy this work as much as I do as it comes through!  
> Some of you may be wondering why, if Gabriel's been caught, he isn't in prison. This is due to Adrien's connection with him. After catching Hawk Moth and revealing his identity, Cat Noir begged Ladybug to help him let Gabriel off easy. It took a lot of convincing, but finally, Ladybug and Cat Noir were able to persuade the authorities to let Gabriel off with a warning and two years' house arrest by saying that his grief caused him to lose mental health. Nathalie was not presented to the public as Mayura so that she could remain Adrien's legal guardian, making it possible for Adrien to stay with his father. (Just for reference, Ladybug and Cat Noir told everyone that Hawk Moth was using both the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses, and "Mayura" was just a sentimonster to throw everyone off the trail. Okay, there may have been a teeeeeny bit of magic used to let Gabriel off the hook.) Emilie, meanwhile, was never able to be revived because over the years, her enchanted sleep deteriorated into death. This was a hard choice for me to make, because I wanted Adrien to get his mom back, but I know from personal experience that loss is necessary in life, and Adrien needed more to bond with Ashley over. (And, yes, maybe I wanted Gabenath to happen. Don't judge.)  
> Anyways, thank you so much for reading! This work has a LOT of information to be revealed, so I hope you can follow along without problems and still enjoy. Have fun and stay safe!


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